Chris Bangle is well known as an automotive designer who started his career at Opel in 1981. He is an Art Center College of Design graduate whose design career has spanned over 35 years. He moved from Opel to Fiat in 1985 and in 1992 he was named the first American Chief of Design at BMW. There he brought fresh looks to BMW, Mini Cooper, and Rolls Royce. Chris left BMW in 2009 and moved to Clavesana, near Turin Italy, where he founded Chris Bangle Associates, a design consultancy and management company he operates with his wife Catherine.